A political rally for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama also functioned as a protest Thursday afternoon.

A group of around thirty individuals, comprised mainly of graduate students and University professors, gathered outside the English Building with “Obama” signs, buttons and stickers to show support for the candidate and contempt for a policy from the University Ethics Office they called “overzealous.”

“We want people to support their free speech and the political candidate at the same time,” said the event’s organizer Dan Colson, a graduate student and teaching assistant in the English Department.

Others said they were attending primarily because of the policy, which they felt inhibited their right to assemble. Some pointed to specific language in the memo as especially concerning for graduate students.

“It doesn’t distinguish between what is state compensated time and what isn’t,” said John Claborn, a graduate student and teaching assistant in English. “According to the memo, we’re always on state compensated time.”